Acela150
Super Buff
Great answer!!
A test train consisting of the Sleeper, Diner, and Bag-Dorm, and a Freshly Rehabbed Cab-Car along with a Hippo ran a few nights ago and this afternoon.
Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery
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A test train consisting of the Sleeper, Diner, and Bag-Dorm, and a Freshly Rehabbed Cab-Car along with a Hippo ran a few nights ago and this afternoon.
Thirdrail7
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It will also run tonight and next week in the NED, After that, they should return to the factory and something else should come out. So, check back in 10 days or so,
Green Maned Lion
Engineer
NE633, I am a transit advocate. And I am going to tell you that if you want acknowledgement or progress from your efforts, you picked the wrong line of work.
A hippo? What is that in train terms? I've never heard it before.
PerRock
Engineer
Thirdrail7
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A buff term term for the HHP-8 engines.
No, clearly they don't have to, but Amtrak should listen to its supporter's, and try to be more transparent in this process. Otherwise nasty rumor's may generate, as to some serious design flaw, that may set back the new equipment for a long time. And further erode public and government confidence in their ability to perform.
If there is some serious glitch, they should be forthright about it, show they are vigilant in demanding 'getting it right', and move on from there....
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As for charging for bags, the airlines are affected a lot more by the weight of excess baggage, as in fuel burn, and even sometimes having to takeoff with empty seats, due to weight restrictions for hot weather, high elevation airport's, or short runways....Amtrak is not affected in that way, other then perhaps a miniscule increase in fuel
If there is some serious glitch, they should be forthright about it, show they are vigilant in demanding 'getting it right', and move on from there....
*
As for charging for bags, the airlines are affected a lot more by the weight of excess baggage, as in fuel burn, and even sometimes having to takeoff with empty seats, due to weight restrictions for hot weather, high elevation airport's, or short runways....Amtrak is not affected in that way, other then perhaps a miniscule increase in fuel
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The Davy Crockett
Engineer
True, but I think the point to this is that Amtrak is searching for as many ways to maximize revenue as possible. Like most people, I'm not wild about the idea of charging for baggage either, but if Amtrak enforced carry-on limits, this could produce revenue.
Would 'enhanced' baggage fees generate ill will? Of course it would.
Then again so have all the cuts in ammenities, meal choices, etc., etc. and yet this has not stopped Amtrak from making the cuts. When pax write and compalin about the cuts all they get in return is the same boilerplate form letter that everyone else who complains gets..
What if the choice was between across-the-board fare hikes or 'enhanced' (in the
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Green Maned Lion
Engineer
Please hike the fares.
ronkstevens
Service Attendant
Amtrak is being as transparent as they need to be. The current schedule is reasonable given what needs to be completed. Now if something major were to happen during the testing sessions, or the initial cars were returned to CAF and then the in service date gets pushed back I would be a little concerned. We're in the home stretch now.
neroden
Engineer
Hike the fares.
I'd be OK with only having one free checked bag per person rather than two, but seriously, nickel-and-diming annoys people, Amtrak shouldn't do it. It's STUPID.
neroden
Engineer
Any further information about this? The cab cars are getting long in the tooth and badly in need of rehab, or indeed total replacement. I had heard rumors that they had weird incompatibilities with the ACS-64 as well.
William W.
Lead Service Attendant
Those Metroliner cabs are 40+ years old. Amtrak hasn't announced any replacements for them as of yet though. Maybe the intend to turn the AEM-7s into cabs? That would result in a loss of capacity on every train that uses a cab though. It has also been floated that they might move the Acela Is to the Keystone Corridor, once the Acela IIs have arrived, but that doesn't seem likely, at least to me.
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neroden
Engineer
Well, there will be enough coaches once the new bilevels arrive in the Midwest and California, which will free up the entire Horizon fleet (and all the Amfleets used in the Midwest and California) for transfer to the NEC. So no loss of capacity if they wait until then.
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William W.
Lead Service Attendant
In order for the Horizons to be used on the NEC, they'd have to be retrofitted with automatic doors. I'd think that manual doors would go over like a lead balloon.
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neroden
Engineer
Well, so then Amtrak should do that. There's gonna be 93 of them and nothing much else to do with them.... it has to be a lot cheaper than building cars new...
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Trust me, that can be achieved way before anyone sees any Acela II arriving.
Also the first tranche of Acela IIs is for increasing service on the spine. There are no plans to move any Acela's to Keystone Corridor or anywhere else. Besides, Pennsylvania has first got to agree to pay the higher price for leasing Acelas. it is not a call for Amtrak to make anyway. If Pennsylvania comes upon that extra money, personally, I'd like to see an additional service out to Pittsburgh first, and restoration of service on Philly - Reading and the Lackawanna from NJ/NY to Scranton and possibly to Binghamton rather than getting fancy Acela sets for a route which does not really need it.
William W.
Lead Service Attendant
I too think that it would be a bad idea, but that was what I had heard.
The Davy Crockett
Engineer
That train has already left the station.
According to On Track-On Line, there are 77 Horizon coach cars. There is a 78th coach car, #54000, but it is not listed as ADA compliant or having the same number of seats as the other coach car, so it is likely not used in revenue service. The rest of Horizons are cafe cars, 3 of which are leased to CA for their refurbed Comet consists. Amtrak still has a surplus of Amfleet I cafe cars, so the Horizon cafe cars might get set aside and only used for extra space on crush holiday periods.So, when we get into these side discussions of what will Amtrak do with the Horizons, the focus should be on the 77 remaining coach cars. But the fate of the Horizons have little to do with the Viewliner 2 order. It is the corridor bi-levels that will replace and free up the Horizons.
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Ryan
Court Jester
jis
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yup and provide ladders so that people can get on and off the train at all those low level platform stations too.
Another one of those AU solutions looking for a problem I see. Why not do something which will cost way more for no significant additional value. Ah yes those large windows of course. :lol:neroden
Engineer
On the contrary: my fare is still all-inclusive and even quoted after tax!
neroden
Engineer
If the Horizons get overhauled, I expect all of them will, including #54000 (the seating retrofit is relatively easy work; this is just a straggler like the last non-push-pull Amfleet was).
I was including the cafe cars. I fully expect them to get used too. Some might be converted to coaches, of course.
Perhaps the simplest thing to do would be to use the Horizon cafes as revenue "table seating"; there is a proven demand for that.
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jis
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On trains like the Lakeshore, they should simply toss in a Horizon Cafe next to the Diner and use it as a table car, just like they use the Lounge in the Autotrain as a table car, or at least the Diner end of it. This removes the crunch for table space though increases that walk for the staff, and possibly requires an extra staff. they will have to deal with this issue some anyway if they expect to add more Sleepers to trains like the LSL and the Meteor.
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